Sanford's International Charter Moves Don't Fly With Oia

TOURISM & TRAVEL

December 14, 1998|By Will Wellons and Elaine Backhaus of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD - TBI Plc. officials thought they could come into Orlando Sanford Airport and run a small international charter business without upsetting the larger Orlando International Airport to the south.

They were wrong.

OIA recently engineered a coup to take away one of Sanford's top charter airlines, Britannia Airways Ltd., effective Feb. 15.

Not only was the announcement a surprise to TBI, it signaled Orlando is serious about not losing international charter business to the upstart airport.

``We have clearly awakened the sleeping giant. Competition will do that,'' said Keith Brooks, chief executive for the London-based company, which operates Sanford's international charter business through a subsidiary.

Over the past 2 1/2 years, Sanford has processed more than 1 million passengers annually. Those passengers once flew into Orlando.

OIA responded by aggressively trying to woo back that business. Just this year, several Orlando airport directors visited the British airline carriers, and they continue to talk with them.

``Discussions are just ongoing, as they always are,'' said Keith Phildius, Orlando's marketing director.

Brooks hinted that Britannia got a sweetheart deal to return to OIA. He said, though, that because OIA is a public airport, it is able to use tax dollars to give an airline such as Britannia a deal. TBI must answer to stockholders.

Still, Brooks is upbeat about the future of the Sanford airport, and he stills thinks Sanford can provide better service than its larger neighbor.

``We are going to try even harder to provide the service that brought the airlines here,'' he said. ``The [better) product will win out at the end of the day.''

Meanwhile, the exit of charters should stop for now. The other airlines - Airtours, Monarch, and Air2000 - have long-term deals with Sanford.

Despite the recent skirmishes, Brooks thinks Orlando needs Sanford and that the airports can work together.

``There is a need for an overspill airport, and we can provide that,'' he said.

Brooks chuckled at the idea that Sanford, with 1.2 million passengers a year, is competition for OIA, which is more than 20 times its size with 27 million passengers annually.

``We're not a threat,'' he said. ``We've never expected to be a threat.''

TBI continues to look for new markets. It is trying to woo business from South America to balance its British charter business. The company also is negotiating to become the manager of Sanford's fledgling domestic business.

Before the departure of Britannia and the smaller Caledonian Airlines, Sanford was on a fast track to spend up to $12 million to expand its domestic terminal.

Now, Brooks said, there is time to think about that decision.

``The Britannia situation has made us think, `Hang on,''' he said. ``We're not in the desperate rush [now).''

Brooks conceded that growing Sanford's domestic traffic will be difficult. He said, though, that as business development continues north from Orlando, the demand for domestic service out of Sanford will increase.

Brooks said, meanwhile, that TBI, which owns three airports in Europe, will not sit idly by while Orlando tries to kill its Sanford business.

``If they [Orlando) continue to take swats at us,'' he said, ``this little guy will have a stinger in his tail.''